Several applications that involve the thermal processing of substrates such as semiconductor wafers and other materials involve the process steps of rapidly heating and cooling a substrate. One example of such processing is rapid thermal processing (RTP), which is used for a number of semiconductor fabrication processes.
Rapid thermal processing (RTP) radiate heat energy from lamps into the process chamber and onto a semiconductor substrate in the processing chamber. In this manner, the substrate is heated to a required processing temperature. During semiconductor processing operations, the lamps operate at extremely high temperatures. Not all of the heat energy provided by the RTP chamber lamps end up actually heating the wafer. Some of the radiant energy is absorbed by chamber components, especially the reflective components in the radiation field. This is particularly true for emitted energy from point sources which emit light in all directions.
In addition, in the semiconductor industry, it is often desirable to obtain temperature uniformity in the substrate during temperature cycling of substrate. Temperature uniformity provides uniform process variables on the substrate (e.g. layer thickness, resistivity, etch depth) for temperature activated steps such as film deposition, oxide growth, and etching. Furthermore, temperature uniformity in the substrate is necessary to prevent thermal stress-induced substrate damage such as warpage, defect generation, and substrate slip.
To address the issues above, arrays of solid state sources (e.g., Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), LASERs, and the like) have been used in some substrate processing chambers. However, arrays of solid state sources require a great deal of wiring, bonding, and thermal management. Difficulties in manufacturing arrays of solid state sources and the complexity of using arrays of solid state sources, among other reasons, have slowed wide spread adaptation of solid state source arrays for use in RTP processes and chambers.
Accordingly, the inventors have provided an integrated solution for solid state source array lighting and heating for semiconductor substrate processing and methods for manufacturing said integrated solution.